Biblical filler material

[nobspeople]

Is there anything in the bible that one can legitimately consider 'filler'*?
Are there any stories submitted that simply have no implication on the enteral soul of the reader?
If so, which story?

I ask as I was reading a thread recently that divulged into arguing of which dead brother was required to breed with a woman (or something to that regard - I got lost in the bickering back-n-forth TBH) and I wondered how this story and discussion had any relevance on my life at any point.

*Filler, here, meaning having no implication to the life and eternal life of any human, living, dead or not yet born.

[Difflugia]

It's a straight-up joke ("Paul was so boring that...") and the punchline is that Paul brought him back from the dead.

Not according the version I read.

"Finally, completely overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground from the third storey and was picked up as dead. But Paul went down, bent over him and holding him gently in his arms, said, “Don’t be alarmed; he is still alive.”

When Paul say “Don’t be alarmed; he is still alive." "Still" means he was never dead in the first place. So the "as dead" can only mean he appeared to be dead.

That's a paraphrase. "As" and "still" don't appear in the Greek. The reading is:

Then, sitting by the window, one youth named Eutychus, being brought down by a deep sleep as Paul talked at length, was brought down by the sleep, fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead. Then Paul came down, fell upon him, embraced him, and said, "Don't be alarmed, for his life is in him!"

Out of curiosity, what version are you reading? I checked a few that I thought it might be (NIV, NLT) and they read more-or-less what I have there.

If you're still not sure that's what's intended, another clue is the young man eating immediately afterward (Acts 20:11). Check the other resurrection stories. More often than not, food is mentioned in order to show that the person brought back to life isn't a ghost (Mark 5:43, Luke 8:55, Luke 24:41, John 12:2, John 21:13).

[JehovahsWitness]

With that being said, there is an enormous amount contained in the Bible, which would have nothing whatsoever to do with any reader at all today.

I disagree. There is nothing in the bible that it irrelevant to the modern day reader, its details are always pertinent, interesting and/or beneficial for people of faith.



JW

So then, please do demonstrate to us, how reading Paul's command to Timothy, to bring Paul's cloak to him when Timothy came to Paul, would in any way be applicable, to any of us today?

Did I say "applicable" or did I say "pertinent, interesting and/or beneficial for people of faith"?





JW

[Realworldjack]

[Replying to Miles in post #19]

-it just doesn't matter. It's wasted space in the Bible.

I am simply going to respond here by saying, this author was not writing in the Bible.

[JoeyKnothead]

From the OP:

Is there anything in the bible that one can legitimately consider 'filler'*?

If you're running low on soil amendments, and need to fill out such, it's a great replacement for certain organic fertilizers.

You can also use it to fill holes in the gaps of human knowledge, if ya don't think too hard about it.

Use it to fill out gaps in your wall insulation, or to fill out the gaps in your toilet paper supply.

I sent mine to the recycler. It's better used there than it was in my life. Too bad about the leather cover, though. Poor cow died needlessly.

So does this mean you consider it all filler? Most of it? Please elaborate

All of it.

My position is that any morality one may glean from the bible could just as well be shared without all the fear mongering and the unproven, unprovable supernatural claims.

[Realworldjack]

With that being said, there is an enormous amount contained in the Bible, which would have nothing whatsoever to do with any reader at all today.

I disagree. There is nothing in the bible that it irrelevant to the modern day reader, its details are always pertinent, interesting and/or beneficial for people of faith.



JW

So then, please do demonstrate to us, how reading Paul's command to Timothy, to bring Paul's cloak to him when Timothy came to Paul, would in any way be applicable, to any of us today?

Did I say "applicable" or did I say "pertinent, interesting and/or beneficial for people of faith"?





JW

Let's not play semantics here. The whole point is, the letter in question was addressed to one individual by the name of Timothy. When the author arrives to the passage we are referring to,

When you come, bring the overcoat which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.

He is speaking, and giving a command to Timothy, and had no intent for this command to be, "pertinent, interesting and/or beneficial for people of faith".

[JehovahsWitness]

He is speaking, and giving a command to Timothy, and had no intent for this command to be, "pertinent, interesting and/or beneficial for people of faith".

I am really not interested in your failed "slight of hand", I said nothing about the intent of the writer, nor did I speak of everything in the bible being "applicacable". I have no interest in strawmen and word my posts very carefully. You can either ask or challenge something I actually said or move along. Either way, I can assure you, no re-wording of what I said will get past me.


Your call,


JW

[JoeyKnothead]

He is speaking, and giving a command to Timothy, and had no intent for this command to be, "pertinent, interesting and/or beneficial for people of faith".

I am really not interested in your failed "slight of hand", I said nothing about the intent of the writer, nor did I speak of everything in the bible being "applicacable". I have no interest in strawmen and word my posts very carefully. You can either ask or challenge something I actually said or move along. Either way, I can assure no re-wording of what I said will get past me.


Your call,


JW

Serious question - Do you think the passage in question has some application for these modern times and people?

Is there something in that sentence alone that if left out, would somehow leave out something important we should know?

[JehovahsWitness]

Serious question - Do you think the passage in question has some application for these modern times and people?

The instruction itself (to bring Paul's coat and scrolls) no, not really - the coat no doubt has long ceased to exist. The principles we can glean from the passage? Yes. Does the passage contain valuable information that is important to modern day people of faith, absolutely. Does it provide insights that add to the narrative, again, yes, I believe it does.

Is there something in that sentence alone that if left out, would somehow leave out something important we should know?

I believe the bible is the word of God and by virtue of that alone everything in it is "important", (valuable, useful...). That said, all things are not necessarily of equal import. If we didn't know of Paul's message it would not impact on our understanding of the bible's central themes or prophecies. But from there to call it "a filler" as in a useless waste of space is, in my opinion, a gross misrepresentation of the narrative.





JW

[JoeyKnothead]

Serious question - Do you think the passage in question has some application for these modern times and people?

The instruction itself (to bring Paul's coat and scrolls) no, not really - the coat no doubt has long ceased to exist. The principles we can glean from the passage? Yes. Does the passage contain valuable information that is important to modern day people of faith, absolutely. Does it provide insights that add to the narrative, again, yes, I believe it does.

Is there something in that sentence alone that if left out, would somehow leave out something important we should know?

I believe the bible is the word of God and by virtue of that alone everything in it is "important", (valuable, useful...). That said, all things are not necessarily of equal import. If we didn't know of Paul's message it would not impact on our understanding of the bible's central themes or prophecies. But from there to call it "a filler" as in a useless waste of space is, in my opinion, a gross misrepresentation of the narrative.

JW

I preciate the reply, and, unusually for me, find nothing to fuss about.

[Miles]

It's a straight-up joke ("Paul was so boring that...") and the punchline is that Paul brought him back from the dead.

Not according the version I read.

"Finally, completely overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground from the third storey and was picked up as dead. But Paul went down, bent over him and holding him gently in his arms, said, “Don’t be alarmed; he is still alive.”

When Paul say “Don’t be alarmed; he is still alive." "Still" means he was never dead in the first place. So the "as dead" can only mean he appeared to be dead.

That's a paraphrase. "As" and "still" don't appear in the Greek.

Because of the vast latitude Bible translators give themselves in rephrasing Greek and Hebrew scripture into English, an exact translation is always questionable and should never be necessarily expected. For example, the Hebrew word רַע, transliterated as raʿ in Isaiah 45:7

"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create raʿ: I the LORD do all these things."

has been translated into at least 11 different English words, many of which are nowhere near being synonyms.

Evil
Disaster
Calamity
Doom
Woe
Sorrow
Trouble(s)
Bad times
Discords
Hard times

Then, sitting by the window, one youth named Eutychus, being brought down by a deep sleep as Paul talked at length, was brought down by the sleep, fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead. Then Paul came down, fell upon him, embraced him, and said, "Don't be alarmed, for his life is in him!"

Out of curiosity, what version are you reading? I checked a few that I thought it might be (NIV, NLT) and they read more-or-less what I have there.

I used the Phillips (J.B. Phillips New Testament) version because of its easy-to-read format, but other versions use the words "still" as well.

NTE
Paul went down, stooped over him and picked him up. ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘There is life still in him.’

NCB
Paul went down, threw himself upon him, and took him in his arms. “Do not be alarmed,” he said. “He is still alive.”

NASB
But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for he is still alive.”

JUB
And Paul went down and fell on him and, embracing him, said, Trouble not yourselves, for his soul is still in him.

GNT
But Paul went down and threw himself on him and hugged him. “Don't worry,” he said, “he is still alive!”

and so on.



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